Surviving as a young scientist in Brazil

In recent years, Brazilian science has been hit by repeated budget cuts (1–5), including one in October that reduced a proposal for supplemental science funding by 87% (4). These cuts threaten ongoing and future science and technology projects, including scholarship funding for early-career researchers. Despite precarious funding for science compared with high-income countries, in 2020, Brazil was ranked 11th among nations that produced knowledge to fight the COVID-19 pandemic (6). Brazil’s meaningful contributions are driven by early career researchers (5), but without proper investment, these young scientists will have no choice but to abandon their academic career or leave the country (5).